I can’t say enough about all the advice Matt Bird crams into The Secrets of Character. This writing manual is full of tips, tricks, and examples for writers to use just within the first ten pages. That’s right, the first ten pages, because Bird knows that agents won’t read past that if they don’t love…
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Writing Resource: Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
There is much to say about Jessica Brody’s Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, but today I will focus on one specific detail: assembling the troops. In her novel-writing manual, Brody breaks down the grand finale into five beats, or moments, so that writers have a checklist of sorts to follow. The first of these…
Writing Resource: How To Write Short Stories and Use Them To Further Your Writing Career by James Scott Bell
Writers looking to sharpen their short story skills and increase productivity will benefit from James Scott Bell’s manual, How To Write Short Stories and Use Them To Further Your Writing Career. The slim text breaks down the components of a short story into a shattering moment + the emotional fallout of said moment. Bell likens…
Writing Resource: The Magic Words by Cheryl B. Klein
Writers of children’s books will benefit from the advice of Cheryl B. Klein’s The Magic Words. Klein offers list after list of practical, tangible, effective advice for every aspect of the writing process from generating ideas to drafting and revision. Her detailed instructions on creating a scene-by-scene bookmap might seem overwhelming, but if you can’t…
Teacher Resource: “The Santa Ana” by Joan Didion
Posted on Author Jill M SmithPosted in Teacher Resources, Teacher Tuesday, Writing Inspiration, Writing ResourceLeave a Reply
Joan Didion is an American writer of novels, essays, short stories, and screenplays. In the College Writing class I teach, I include Didion’s essay, “The Santa Ana,” on my syllabus as an example of a descriptive writing. Recent events in California, particularly the fires in Los Angeles, remind me of Didion’s work because of the…
Artist’s Date: The Strand Bookstore in NYC
Posted on Author Jill M SmithPosted in Bookstores & More, Writing, Writing Inspiration, Writing ResourceLeave a Reply
One tip from creativity guru Julia Cameron in her book, The Artist’s Way, is to take oneself on artist’s dates. One day recently, I needed a change of scenery while my family would be golfing for several hours. (Anyone else married to a golfer?) I boarded an NYC bound bus and within thirty minutes, I…
Writing Resource: How to Write Short Stories and Get Them Published by Ashley Lister
I thought that after writing, three novels writing a short story would be simple. I would easily crank out a short story each month to submit for publication or a contest. Little did I know that while the literary components of a short story are similar to those in a novel, writing them is a…